..续本文上一页te, feeling, and ideation.

　　2. Concentration: steadying the mind in a single preoccupation, not latching onto thoughts of the past or future, holding fast to the present. Concentration is a means of killing off bhava-tanha (craving to be what one isn”t), i.e., mental states that stray off into thoughts of past and future. The act of straying is craving for becoming, looking for a new place to take birth. This is what is meant by "sambhavesin." When concentration arises, the mind can let go of such craving.

　　3. Discernment: circumspect knowledge that guards over the mind to keep it from being influenced, involved, and attached. Discernment is what enables us to abandon vibhava-tanha (craving not to be what one is), in that the characteristic of this form of craving is the wavering that occurs in the mental moment arising in the present. This we can perceive through intuitive discernment. Discernment knows stress; intuitive knowledge cuts the root of stress; cognitive skill — clear knowledge of past, future, and present — distinguishes cause, result, and release, without being attached: This is what”s meant by the skill of release.

　　And that is the heart of the Buddha”s teachings.

　　(Etam buddhana-sasanam)

　　--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　Glossary

　　Abhidhamma (Pitaka): The third of the three collections forming the Pali Canon, composed of systematic treatises based on lists of categories drawn from the Buddha”s teachings.

　　Arahant: A "worthy one" or "pure one," i.e., a person whose heart no longer has any defilements and is thus not destined for further rebirth. A title for the Buddha and the highest level of his Noble Disciples.

　　Ariyadhana: "Noble Wealth," i.e., qualities that serve as "capital" in the quest for liberation: conviction, virtue, conscience, fear of evil, erudition, generosity, and discernment.

　　Ayatana: Sense media, i.e., the six senses (the five physical senses plus the intellect) and their corresponding objects.

　　Dhamma: Event; phenomenon; the way things are in and of themselves; quality — both in its neutral and in its positive senses: (1) the basic qualities into which natural phenomena — mental and physical — can be analyzed; the terms in which things are known by the sense of ideation. Also, any teaching that analyzes phenomena into their basic terms. This is one sense in which the Buddha”s doctrine is his "Dhamma." (2) The quality of one”s heart and mind, as manifest by the rectitude, fairness, compassion, composure, discernment, etc., revealed in one”s actions. The manifestations can be enumerated and prescribed as principles (again, "dhamma" — another sense in which the Buddha”s doctrine is his Dhamma) that can then be put into practice and developed as means of removing shoddiness from the heart so that its genuine, unchanging quality can become fully apparent from within: This is the Buddha”s Dhamma in its ultimate sense.

　　Dhatu: Element, property, potential. Basic forces that, when aroused out of their latent state, cause activity on the physical or psychological level. In traditional Thai physics, which is based on the physics of the Pali Canon, the four dhatu of earth, water, fire, and wind are said to permeate all matter in latent or potential form. To become mani, fest, they have to be aroused. Thus, for example, the act of starting a fire is explained as the arousal of the fire-dhatu (tejas), which already exists in the air and in the object to be ignited. Once this is "seized," it clings to the fuel, and the object will be on fire. The fire will continue burning as long as tejas has sustenance to cling to. When it runs out of sustenance or is forced to let go, it will grow quiet — returning to its normal, latent state — and the inpidual fire will go…

《The Path to Peace and Freedom for the Mind》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…